2006-04-11
Rollergirls
I'm thinking that it won't be long before Tucson Rollerderby will expand and add another team.
The fans are there, the athletes are there... it's a matter of organization and time.
So I was thinking that maybe I would get in on the ground floor of a team, right?
Be a Founding Sister or something.
And then I started thinking about names of teams.
Rollerderby teams here have a pretty pervasive theme attached to them. If you're a Furious Truckstop Waitress, your Rollerderby name is going to reflect your team affiliation.
Any team that starts up needs three things besides good skaters:
1. A name that can be heavy in innuendo and double entendre.
2. A theme that lends itself to kick-ass names for the players.
3. A color.
I have actually been thinking about this A LOT.
Here are some of my ideas:
Dirty Hippys.
This might be my favorite right now. I would totally be Jerri Gore-cia is I was on Dirty Hippys. Our uniforms would be tie-dye, of course and I think there would be a lot of fun to be had in rolling up the jokes about hippies and the bad-ass nature of Rolllerderby.
Ha-ha... rolling up.
Get it?
Dirty Hippys could work that pun for years and still not wear it out! Rolling? Skates or doobs, bro?
This would be an awesome team. They'd be The Bad Hippys at the Phish Concert and they'd eat meat and stuff.
Another one I thought of is Fearless Flyers.
Flight attendants, dudes.
Waitresses in the sky.
Navy blue, airplanes everywhere, jaunty caps for team photos and suntan pantyhose. People could have names like Moxie Genmask and Mila Highclub.
This team could be a little sluttier than Dirty Hippys, you know - ripped uniform, untucked top, that type of thing.
But always, ALWAYS with the suntan pantyhose.
It would be awesome.
I have to credit that one, in part, to my neighbor Sarah. She suggested that we wear glight attendant uniforms to the next bout and I thought it was great until I remembered that this is the one time in life that I can't do it.
For the May bout, I am TOTALLY there in a flight attendant�s outfit, totally.
Finally, I thought it might be entertaining to have like, Debaucherous Debutantes. They could play on the whole Southern thing and players could have names like Scarlet O'Hurtya, Alabama Slamma', and Lynette Skynette. This team would have to submit to pastels, I think, and just make them look as trashy as possible. But trashy in the way that trashy people think they look good, not trashy as interpreted by Hollywood.
Think Kid Rock, not Paris Hilton.
There ya go.
"My Name is Earl"-style. Now you're getting the feel.
See?
This team would have very little structure in their uniforms. Cut off shorts, maybe but mostly it would be about the names and the graphic arts for this team.
It could work.
Can you tell there�s Rollerderby this weekend?
I got skates and things are going well.
I found out that my friend�s girlfriend is writing her PhD thesis on Rollerderby. I have to admit that I am slightly jealous because it�s such a rich group for a thesis. She agreed but from the perspective of, �there�s too much to choose from�.
Do you look at it from the feminist perspective?
From the team sport aspect?
Why people join?
What about the show?
It�s not like Rollergirls fit that stripper stereotype, not even close, but Rollergirls aren�t joining a basketball team at the YMCA, either. There has to be something appealing about the show for every Rollergirl but at the same time, there is an enormous amount of time committed to building the sport, by every Rollergirl. You build it through practice commitments, marketing commitments, entertainment� Rollerderby is very much a home-grown, a blend of athletics that require a lot of time to master or maintain, and over-the-top antics playing on sex, drugs and rock and roll.
It�s fascinating from an anthropological stand-point and it is AWESOME from a participant stand-point.
arizonasarah at 10:59 a.m.